Do you smell it?

I'd also like to share a few pictures from a historical visit yesterday.

In order : Picture 1 is take from the fortress which is viewable from my balcony. It can be seen within the hillside houses. What I did not guess is that the city is actually built within these fortress walls, there are two gates allowing entrance and exit. The city expands out from there, down the hill, into downtown, and up to the Aegean coastline.

Picture 2 is from the Saint Demetrius church. While I have indeed forgotten the prominent story of St. Demetrius, what I found interesting is the crypt below. While the church is beautiful and lives up to all elaborate churches standards, it is actually a rebuild. There was a large fire years ago which nearly destroyed the entire church, but also allowed for the people of Thessaloniki to locate a crypt built beneath the church which is where St. Demetrius was originally held prisoner and killed. This crypt is an ancient bathhouse built by the Romans. Talk about time periods. Now, on the upper level of the church you can find - in a gold case- the actual bones of St. Demetrius and on his holy day this box is carted throughout the city in somewhat of a parade.

Picture 3 is of a dog which I found when visiting the tombs of Alexander the Great's Father and his Father's wife.